Enforcing a balance is necessary by limiting the amount of purely online learning a student can embark upon over the course of his or her career. Enforcing rules about the method of access (for example, insisting that online courses have 'real time' meetings), setting guidelines about the types of technology used, and creating online courses that are only one part of a more comprehensive educational degree's requirements is essential. Completing some course requirements through online class work may be acceptable, provided it is of a demanding quality, and uses Blackboards and chat rooms to mimic the interactive environment of the classroom. But a purely online degree has questionable value, even when conferred by a legitimate institution. Certain types of subjects, such as the life sciences, require an intensive laboratory component to be truly effective. And learning 'hands on' has value in most of the disciplines even beyond the sciences.

The best use of technology is ideally in an interactive and hands-on environment, in a real-world classroom. When students from real-life classrooms use the Web...

It engages other forms of learning, and other types of learners who excel in nonverbal types of communication. But technology must never be used for technology's sake, and technology must be used to make education more comprehensive and rigorous in the skills that it reinforces, rather than more distant, easier, and socially fragmented.
Works Cited

7 things you should know about cloud computing (2009). Educause Website.

Retrieved August 21, 2009 at http://www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutCloud/176856

Assuring quality in distance learning: A preliminary review. (2009). Institute for Higher

Education. Retrieved August 21, 2009 at http://www.ihep.org/

The WICHE Policy Analysis & Research. (2009). Official website. Retrieved August 21, 2009 at http://www.wiche.edu/policy/.